Rolling Stone to Publish Review of Disputed Rape Article

Rolling Stone magazine plans to publish an external review of a widely disputed article about a gang rape at the University of Virginia “in the next couple of weeks,” its managing editor, Will Dana, said on Sunday.

The 9,000-word article, which was published in November, was based on the account of a female student who described being sexually assaulted by seven men in a dark room during a fraternity house party.

The article quickly became part of a national debate over sexual assault on college campuses, and the university suspended the fraternity’s operations. But in early December, substantial portions of the article were called into question. Rolling Stone acknowledged that it had not sought to independently corroborate the woman’s account, and that it had doubts about the veracity of the story. Shortly afterward, it announced a review of the article would be led by Steve Coll, dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

“Steve Coll has not filed yet, but I expect the report soon and the plan is to publish in the next couple of weeks,” Mr. Dana said in an email on Sunday. He has not read the report, he said, and does not know what it might say.

Mr. Coll said when the review was announced that the magazine had allowed him access to its staff and materials. The report will focus, he said, “on the editorial process,” but he added that it would also “have the freedom to move in any direction along the way that we believe would be germane and of public interest.”